


Liar Liar

by sunflowersailor



Series: sylvix week 2020 [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pining, Post-Time Skip, Sylvix Week (Fire Emblem), lots of pining rest in peace felix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowersailor/pseuds/sunflowersailor
Summary: For the sylvixweek2020 prompt: protectionFelix tells Mercedes that learning how to heal will help him protect those he cares about.Bullshit, Felix, she thinks (except she doesn’t swear because she’s a woman of the Goddess).Because in reality, she knows there's one person in particular he thinks about when he talks about people he wants to protect.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: sylvix week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933477
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Liar Liar

“Mercedes. I, um… I need your help.”

Mercedes doesn’t often speak to Felix. When she does, the responses she gets back are stiff and curt, some of them sharp as the blade he wields so efficiently. But she knows his tough exterior holds a plush inside, only reserved for those he’s close to. Try as he might to put up a facade of indifference, she knows the real Felix is simply a man who has had one too many lessons in how to fight and little to none on the importance of communication and honesty.

Then again, she supposes everyone in the Blue Lions could use a lesson or two in the delicate art of unabashedly baring their true selves. A certain messy mop (“It’s not messy, ladies love the windswept look,” she hears a voice say) of red hair comes to mind.

So it’s encouraging when he comes to her—face donning a rosy blush, eyes averted in a way that's reminiscent of a child struggling with how to tell their parents they just knocked over a potted plant—and asks her for help.

She’s often wondered if she accidentally pushed him away with the talk of how much he reminds her of her own brooding brother. It certainly seems like it with the way he never goes out of his way to approach her first, their communication being limited to him muttering a nearly incoherent word of gratitude before getting up to rush back into the heat of battle as she’s left to wonder just how much time it will be before he winds up in the infirmary (“Really, Felix, quit running off on your own—you’re gonna give a guy gray hairs, and I’m still too young and handsome for that” she hears the same voice from before say).

But it’s a relief to see him standing in front of her now. She hasn’t completely scared him off, and that’s another thing she can thank the Goddess for before sleep claims her for the night.

“What would you like my help with, Felix?” 

Seeing him visibly stiffen at her words makes her wonder if she should try speaking to him in a tone as she would a small animal, but luckily he doesn’t turn on his heel and leave like she expects. Instead, he crosses his arms with a small huff, almost as if steeling himself.

“It’s about healing. I’d like to learn a little bit, and I trust your expertise.”

There’s another thing Mercedes knows about Felix besides the fact that his communication skills often make her feel as if she’s coaxing a cat into getting its nails filed down (Felix hates being compared to cats, her mind supplies for some inexplicable reason). He also hates magic.

Well, that’s not entirely true. The professor had convinced him that it would make him a better swordsman when they’d found out he had an affinity for reason just last moon. So it’s not as if he hates it, but he certainly doesn’t like it either. She found that out after her ears had picked up yelling coming from the kitchen, her nose picking up the faint smell of burning. She’d rushed in only to discover Felix and his newly appointed advisor, Annette, panicking as the entire stove had been set ablaze. A thin blanket of black, curling smoke set the cafeteria in a haze, and most ended up overflowing, floating heavenward out of the doorways.

After that disaster had been successfully—well, more or less, seeing as they couldn’t save the stove to Dedue’s carefully concealed disappointment—mitigated, Felix had declared with a huff that Annette was to only be his advisor if it didn’t involve fire of any kind. The only other person left to help at that point was Sylvain. 

And Mercedes truly felt the utmost sympathy for Felix for that. Not because Sylvain is bad with magic, though. If anything, Sylvain’s affinity for magic is nearly on par with Annette’s—he’s even gone so far as to help her with weaving particularly difficult spells. 

No, her sympathy centers around the fact that Felix’s feelings towards Sylvain are clear as a blue sky on a spring day. They permeate the air every time the two are together—whether it’s them bantering over who gets the last meat skewer (which always ends up in Felix’s favor because Sylvain is far too soft to put up a real fight), or the way they battle in perfect sync, harmonizing with each other with every slash of weapon. Sylvain tutoring him is bound to take years off of Felix’s life, decades even, if he never says anything (and by the Goddess above she knows he won’t).

It’s as endearing as it is annoying, really. Mercedes tries to practice patience every day, as she knows the Goddess would want her to. She smiles at the small children who struggle to formulate sentences properly, and she helps Annette every time she accidentally drops and breaks something (which is a lot, and it’s quite unfortunate for Seteth’s dwindling budget) without a single complaint.

But Mercedes is only human. And every human has their limits—whether you’re powerful like Dimitri, or not as powerful, like Ashe. And each time Sylvain gives Felix a soft smile that makes him freeze in place, each time Felix lectures Sylvain about the importance of taking care of himself so they don’t break their promise (she makes a mental note to ask about that at a later date), each time they’re seen sitting together on the lawn in front of the dorms, sharing a tranquil moment in front of the setting sun without any actual romantic gestures involved—Mercedes feels her patience wear ever thinner.

And one of these days, the river is going to dry up. One of these days, the clock will strike midnight, and she will make her feelings about them sidestepping their feelings known. A divine retribution for the two idiots in love, if you will.

But that day isn’t going to be today, because today all of her efforts are going to be focused on helping Felix learn magic, even if he doesn’t particularly like it.

Which… is suspicious, actually.

“Ah, I’d be happy to help, Felix,” she says with a soft smile, voice as melodious as the gentle, rolling waves of the ocean as they kiss the shoreline. “But tell me, if you wouldn’t mind, why do you want to learn about healing? Your affinity is with reason, isn’t it?”

The suspicious feeling implants itself ever deeper when she sees his eyes widen and his mouth gape just a little bit, only for him to quickly shut it and jerk his head away. He mumbles something soft and incoherent, but it sounds suspiciously like a half concealed admission.

“Could you repeat that, Felix?” Mercedes pipes up.

He grimaces and turns to face her head on, still not quite meeting her eyes. “I said, it’ll make me better in battle. To... to protect those I care about.”

_ Bullshit, Felix,  _ she thinks, except she doesn’t swear because she’s a woman of the Goddess.

But she would like to. Oh how she would just love to drop her smile for just one second, shake Felix by the shoulders and (very politely, because she’s still a woman of the Goddess) lay down several obscenities.

It’s not as if he’s completely lying. He does care about others. He’s gotten hurt because he cared so much, he’s lectured others about taking care of themselves because the steel barbs were no match for the power his soft heart holds. 

The same mess of red hair she’d imagined before breaches her thoughts once again, and this time a soft, lovestruck grin and half lidded coffee colored eyes complete the look. It’s the same face she sees every time Felix lectures its owner about being reckless as he delicately cleans his wounds, it’s the same face she sees every time Felix thanks him for protecting him in battle, and it’s the same face she sees mirrored back on Felix’s own when he thinks no one else is looking.

That person is the same person who Felix lectures more than anyone. That person is the only person Felix has shed tears over. That person is the exact person Felix thinks about when the word ‘protect’ leaves his lips.

So he’s not lying. But he’s not being truthful either.

And quite frankly, even if patience is a virtue, the river in Mercedes has dried up by now. The clock has struck midnight, and she’s not going to allow this to go on for any longer. Scratch any plans she had about magic, throw away the mental lesson pamphlet she’d pulled up in her brain.

Mercedes is tired. She’s going to make it known in a way the Goddess would approve of.

She gives Felix a smile, full of the kindest, softest, saccharine sweetness she can offer. “That’s wonderful, Felix. But I think what you meant to say was, ‘I’d like to protect Sylvain because I care deeply about him and my feelings extend beyond friendship.’ Am I wrong?”

Felix’s face is kind of like watching a tea kettle as it heats up. It skips the pink stage and tumbles right into being bright red, and there would be steam coming out of his ears had he actually been a kettle. His mouth hangs open, and Mercedes has to hold back laughter as she imagines a high pitched whistle coming from the back of his throat as his brain shuts down.

Divine retribution at last.

He must sense that his dignity is quickly flying out of the window, because it isn’t long before he shuts his mouth, looks straight down at the ground, and quietly regains his composure.

“You’re not wrong.”

It’s a surprisingly easy admission, given how stubborn he is about… well, everything involving feelings of any kind. She expected to have to fight it out of him the same way the professor had to coerce Dimitri into having tea with them when ghosts still plagued his subconscious. But he’d just… said it. Like he was tired of hiding it, too. Like it was a huge weight lifted from his shoulders to even utter the words.

And although it’s slow progress—progress is still progress, in her book. And who was she to trample such a significant leap forward? Especially if it meant he was just one step closer to finally letting himself be free and open. 

She expects him to stiffen up again when she places a hand on his shoulder, but this time, his shoulders relax and his sharp features become a lot less sharp, revealing the softness she’s sensed in him all along. 

“I’ll help you, Felix. And after this, I’ll help you win Sylvain’s heart too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: peachh_boy  
> Tumblr: peachh-boy
> 
> comments and kudos are always appreciated :>


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